Business Management and Customer Operations Intern Review

I enjoyed the majority of the Internship as I was in a new city that I had never travelled to with accommodation expenses covered by the Bank, really appreciate that. There was a lot to do during the Internship as you are part of a charity challenge as well as your job role. Gets tiring and dormant sometimes (depending on your commute and hours) but that's expected. I think your experience depends on where you are, seems to be a lot more going on in London based positions than elsewhere, so I think it could have been better.

I felt valued by my immediate colleagues as they were very kind, helpful and supportive. They wanted to know more about me and had a genuine interest in my development. I appreciate the effort they took to help to develop skills and perform to a high standard. However, not very "networking" savvy in my region, as contact was limited to office time only.

Manager was great, top marks on support and guidance. Always there to help, always prioritised helping me and not working from home when I was at work so they could stay and support me. Despite the budget issues in my region that hindered our charity challenge compared to others who had merchandise fully funded, my manager was a pleasure to work with as that issue was not directly their fault.

This varied week by week and will most definitely vary dependent on our role. I was initially really busy, as I did all my training and got stuck into a project. However there are times where you often find yourself with nothing to do as you are either waiting to hear back from someone and end up browsing the financial news websites. However I feel there was a good balance, a bit of peak periods and not so peak periods. Was not too stressful and provided adequate time to make a difference/contribute.

I was given a reasonable amount of responsibility, as I was allowed to be at the helm of a project that I, with help oversaw throughout the internship. It is difficult in this role though, as 10 weeks is never enough to see a project through to its end. But given the time and role, the responsibility was great.

Once you look back on it, you realise that you had actually developed a considerable amount of skills without even realising. I feel that everything I have learnt at Lloyds will not only help significantly in my degree but when applying for graduate positions and future jobs also, as I have developed skills I had never even considered before, which made me realise how much I have learnt. Great skills development, again however, dependent on your team and role. The consensus among interns was that you either get a good internship or average one. For me personally, I enjoyed the balance.

The atmosphere was quite quiet as it is not the call centre area which is a lot louder. However the environment was warming, allowed us all to ask questions without issue. However it was quite quiet as there was not many interns here. It was however really charity focused, which was great to see. Good environment.

I think organisation was a big factor that could be worked on. The charity challenge had flaws as I spent weeks applying for relevant permits, whereas other teams simply ignored them and raised money without it, which dented our performance a lot - most of my team found it unfair and thus gave up with it really. Furthermore, the general working aspect of the Internship could have been more described to managers so they are fully informed and up to date, instead of wondering what to do at times. Comparing it to others in my area, who had the best time of their lives (travelling to cities, having days out with colleagues and regularly being developed and paid for to attend events/meetings) - it kind of demoralised some interns as some had not so lavish experiences and felt left out, which arguably was my experience too, as many had a lot more fun and had a lot more to do.

Lloyds has a huge amount of personal training and development. They have this dedicated site on their internal network that allows you to study modules of different courses. I loved this as I did it in my free/not so busy periods and this allowed me to complete several courses which I would not have done without it. Great resources available. There was no direct investment in training etc. as this was a 10 week internship so I cannot say it should have been done.

Employment prospects are really good however, with the graduate scheme. This was well explained and had significant benefits for people applying. They are heavy on loyalty and development which is always a great thing. So the prospects look great with Lloyds. For Interns, we can get straight onto the scheme based on our performance here - may need to readjust how we are rated as it is harder to justify points when you have had less to do (not my experience but other interns in my area). Overall the future prospects are really appealing as the pay is above average and the rewards are really good. Shows they care about staff satisfaction.

There was a good social scene amongst us interns however there was only 8 of us in the entire area. Which limited it significantly. Travelling to different areas was not covered by expenses so we did not meet any others as it was really expensive. Would have preferred living next to each other, e.g. guys flat and girls flat next door instead of separate, as this limited interaction time too. City was great socially but there just is not enough interns in our area.

Very reasonable in this area. Accommodation was covered so no significant expenses, took a lot of burden and stress off us. We had more money to spend socialising. This city is incredibly well priced. Cinema tickets £4 all day everyday, bowling £2.50. Was a really cost friendly place to live, which made it a joy. Only issue was the cost to go back home, spent around £200 on this minimum. Very expensive to travel out.

Nightlife great, so many clubs and bars. Very friendly atmosphere. Good fun for nights out.

There was the charity stuff we had to do, but like I said earlier, it needed a lot more work to be organised better. Stricter rules and policies enforcement to prevent unfair advantages. Other than this charity challenge, there was quite a few activities to get involved in, lots of socials with the grads and general meeting up.